Automatic switch-operating device.



Z 0 m A" E H T N E U G G R M. .4 9 6 0 N AUTOMATIC 'SWlTDH OPERATING DEVICE.

(Appiication filed Nov. 12, 1900.)

(No Model.)

. LII

UNITE STATES PATENT Trice.

ononon o. eonnrnnn, or Los nnennns, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATEC SWITCH-OPERATING DEVICE.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 694,741, dated March 4, 1902.

Application filed November 12, 1900. Serial No. 36,188. No model.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE G. GUENTHEB, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, and State of California, have invented a new and useful Automatic Switch-OperatingDevice,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved automatic switch-operating apparatus for railroads; and the object of my improvement is to permit the car to operate a switch without stoppage and having passed the point of switching to leave the switch in its original position. I attain this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawiugs, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a street-car equipped with my switch-operating device. Fig. 2 is an end view thereof, showing the operation of the invention in connection with either right-angle or parallel switch-levers. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the track and the switch box and lever.

In the drawings like letters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views.

Below the line of the bottom of a car X and on each side thereof is suspended parallel with the track, by means of the several hangers E, a rail'A. -To each end of this rail is pivotally attached a depressible section of rail B, the end of which may be shoe-shaped, as shown, and is provided with a ground-roller D. Pivotally connected to each depressible section B is a foot-operated depressor rod C, which extends up through the'platform of the car and .is within easy reach of the operators foot. While this depressor rod is here shown to be operated by foot, it is to be understood that an obvious changea mechanical equivalent-is to extend it up within reach of the operator and shape the end to be grasped. The rail A, with its hinged depressible sections 13, is of suiiicient length to project beyond the wheels of the car, so that the said hinged sections may be depressed when approaching a switch and will engage with a switch-lever H and operate the same before the forward wheels strikethe switching-point;

In Fig. 3 I have shown a form of switch mechanism to be employed in conjunction with the lever for operating the switch. lVhile here the lever is shown at right angles to the track, it may be employed as a parallel switchlever H, as shownon the left rail of Fig. 2. This lever H is mounted in a switch-box h, which is provided with a guide I or trough running through the box and beneath the lever-roller F, which is mounted upon the end of the pivotal lever. This lever is adapted to operate a switch-bar h. Thebar h is provided with a helical spring 72. which normally holds the said bar and the switch-point to which it isattached'in the position shown in Fig. 3, while the cam shaped'end h of the pivotal lever H engages the end of the switchbar and forces it outward and throws the switch, when the depressible sections 13 pass into the guide I and lift the roller end of the switch-lever onto the rail A. ,l/vhen the roller leaves the hinged sections after traversing the rail A and throwing the switch, the lever H drops back into the switch-box, and the switch is again closed and behind the car. It will be noted that the switch may be operated by this mechanism when the caris going in either direction or when the switch-boxes are situatedon both sides of thesame track. 7

lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1; The combination with a railway switch and an operating-lever, designed to be lifted to throw the switch, of mechanism carried by thecar for picking up the said lever and throwing the switch, and means upon the car, adapted to form a sliding contact with the lever and uphold it in its lifted position for a predetermined period of time, substantially as described. p I p 2. In an automatic switch -operating device, the combination with a car, of a rail so cured thereto at a suitable distance from the track, and means, carried by said car and un= der the control of the operator, forlifting the switch-lever, and guiding it into engagement onto said rail by the depression of either of the said sections, and a'guide adjacent and 15 leading to the switch-lever, with which said guide the end of the hinged section is designed to engage, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of :0 two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE G. GUENTI-IEE.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR G. GUENTHER, C. G. KEYES. 

